Random Thoughts

3D Printer Fun

AdminLeave a comment

I believe in thinking BIG! That’s why when I decided I wanted a 3D printer for my class, I wrote a proposal and placed it on Donors Choose. Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I figured I would allow students to create objects during Genius Hour. In addition, I was going to have THEM figure out the programs and printer – within reason, it is an expensive item.

So when I was notified that my project was funded by Chevron, I was beyond thrilled. Just after Spring Break our printer arrived. The following Genius Hour a group of students and I set it up. Fortunately, one of my girls had gone home and done research on the type of printer we received (Dremel). She knew more about the printer than any of us. After setting it up, we printed out a die. It was a pre-fab file on the SD Card. That was pretty cool. Then came the following week…

We discovered Tinkercad! Since then we have been creating, creating, creating! The early attempts were simple, but fun. I have students coming to school early wanting to create objects for their moms, brothers, selves…

They work together to solve design issues, and talk about new creations – there is a chicken in the making. I have another girl who went home and taught herself (with the help of the provided lessons on Tinkercad), how to use the program. She is our ‘Go To’ person. She is teaching us some of the ins and outs of the program.

It’s fun to see girls leading the way with this technology. It’s also interesting to watch the students watch the printer. It reminds me of the 1950 ads for TV, where everyone sat around as close as they could. Yeah, that’s what’s happening in my class.

I can now see how I can incorporate this into my curriculum. How fun would it be to have students working together to create the digestive system? Fun right?! Or create geometric shapes based on specific dimensions. Or create an object with a specific volume. Or create a topographic representation of a state. The possibilities are endless. This is just the beginning, I can’t wait to see where this takes us!

Spring Cleaning

AdminLeave a comment

The things you find when you start cleaning house. This weekend I had had enough of my desk, in my home office. It was getting out of control! As I was sifting through everything, I ran across an article about something I started in October of 2008. I was ‘Skyping’ in the classroom before it was trendy.

I had to reread the article to remind myself of some of the details. The basics were that another teacher in the district (at another site) and I video chatted – well, our students did. I had gone to a meeting at our county office of education and gotten the idea from something I had seen there. We used Apple products – what our district invested in at the time – and iChat to communicate. We began with a closed network.

We had a great time that year. We began by focusing on speaking and listening skills, as many of our students were second language learners. We ‘met’ most Wednesdays to talk and share. At the end of the year, we met at a local non-profit art gallery. They were kind enough to let us use their backyard space for a picnic and gathering.

I love when spring cleaning results in such a treasure!

Inspiring Teachers

AdminLeave a comment

Lately I’ve been thinking, what makes a great teacher, an inspiring teacher?  What characteristics do they possess? Who do I aspire to be like?

creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by courosa

1. Sharing is Caring

These people share everything they do – FREELY. They share their ideas, successes, and failures. Whether they are sharing with people in the department, site, or on the Internet via blogging or tweeting. They realize that by sharing, not only are they impacting their students, they can impact hundreds.

2. It’s Not About Them

This goes along with sharing. These teachers realize that education is bigger than them, or their classrooms. It’s about helping to create thinkers, doers, and problem solvers. They understand that what they do is for the greater good.

3. Connected

These educators realize that in order to grow and learn, they need to seek out others. You can find them on Twitter, Google+, LinkdIn, writing blogs, etc. They attend conferences, local and otherwise.

4. A Need to Learn

The learning never stops. Thus the conferences, blog reading, #brewcues, #coffeecues, and ed tech meet-ups. They go back to school, enroll in MOOCs, or take courses. There is a constant need to learn and improve themselves.

5. Collaborators

Along with sharing and being connected, collaboration is another key. They listen, and welcome, other ideas. The act of building upon one another’s ideas is a regular conversation.

6 Humble and Uplifting

When I really thought about it, I realized these people are humble about their abilities and help others along on their journey. This, I think, is by far their greatest asset.

These are the qualities of a great teacher. This is what I aspire to be.

After-School Tutoring

AdminLeave a comment

The last few days, I’ve had students contacting me, at home online, to help them with their math homework. The first time, the student contacted me via email and we had a series of emails going back and forth. In class the next day, I mentioned how a student contacted me for help and how awesome that was.

The next day, I received a chat invite via Google Hangouts on my personal GMail account. My students know what the email is, but never (until now) use it. It’s used for web tools sites. She choose to contact me on this account as our district has disabled chat on the student domain. Here is a portion of our conversation:

How #awesomesauce is that? Next, I’m secretly (well not so secretly now) hoping that someone will figure out how to do the video chats and we’ll do a study group hangout.

This is what makes my job so awesome!

Why Do I Do What I Do?

AdminLeave a comment

This week’s #youredustory prompt:

“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it” Simon Sinek – Why do you do what you do?

My first thought was, “My therapist would have a field day with this one [and me].”

https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinkinner/2200500024/

Someone once asked me how I could stay at the same job year after year and not get bored. Quite simply, it’s NOT the same job day after day, let alone year after year.

I do what I do because education is an ever changing entity. Theories, methods, and technology keep the classroom fresh and exciting. I am a person who loves to learn new things; I think most educators are the same way. Before teaching 5th grade, I taught 3rd for about 10 years. I never once taught the same lesson, exactly the same way, twice. I was constantly reflecting, and changing how I taught.

Change: it’s the beauty of our job. When we choose to continue to accept the positive changes, learn new techniques, and view each day as a learning experience, we can’t help but be fulfilled with “What We Do”.

So I do what I do, in part, because I’m selfish. I’m easily bored and need new challenges. Teaching affords me that luxury. Another reason I teach is because I get to inspire a love of learning through innovative and interesting ways. I get to show children how fun, and cool, fractions, technology, editing, creating, history, writing, and so much more can be!

I do what I do because it is inspiring!

Why I Love My Partner Teacher

AdminLeave a comment

In the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, a new 5th grade teacher was brought in. I’ll admit I was excited yet skeptical. I’ve worked with lots of teachers at my grade level and generally have gotten along with them, but never truly ‘clicked’ with another teacher. Until Mrs. Pursley came along.

And here is why I love (working with) her – in no particular order:

  • I can talk her into doing almost anything in a classroom, no matter how crazy it is. Within 2 months she was doing Genius Hour with me.
  • We both have a student-centered classroom.
  • I get random texts from her saying things like, “You complete me <3”
  • When asked if we do A.R. (Accelerated Reader) we both respond no (in a disgusted tone) and she adds ‘Cuz AR sucks’.
  • She calls me a Dork, when I’m being one.
  • I get to call her a Dork when she’s being one.
  • She will text me at random moments just to say something smarmy.
  • We share random 80’s aerobics videos back and forth – and we both secretly love them!
  • We generally have the same mentality (age) – that of a 12 year old.
  • We constantly laugh, mainly cuz of the mentality issue.

Seriously though, she’s awesome and just felt like sharing her awesomeness with the world.

Oh, and she’s one hell of a great teacher!

Student Choice

Admin1 Comment

Recently I began a unit on the Reasons for the Revolutionary War. It’s all gamified and I am usually 1 step ahead of the kids. Last week, I was about an hour ahead of the students. I had a group getting ready to start creating their Boston Tea Party movie that afternoon. At lunch I had the thought, “Hm, I should probably have them create a storyboard”.

I then began looking up storyboards, and stumbled upon Storyboard That. It had several great examples of simple storyboards on the Boston Tea Party. I only meant to give my students some example so they could either draw theirs on paper or on Google Draw. My lack of direction and the group’s internal fearlessness, lead to better than expected results. Instead of my students taking the easy way out, they dove right into the new tool.

The students came came to me after 15 minutes and asked for my login. I told them that I didn’t have one for the site, and asked why they needed it. They then showed me their work. Yeah, they started creating their own story board, and the site prompted them to save it.

Screen Shot 2015-02-17 at 8.52.38 PM

So I did what anyone else would do. I created an account on the spot! Glad I did, too. The students are being creative and showing me what they learned.

Supporting the Beginner

AdminLeave a comment

Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 6.38.00 PMA few weeks ago I got together with a first grade teacher at my site. We decided to video tape her students holding high frequency words. The idea was to create a fun way her students could practice their words, at school and home. Needless to say, it has been a big success. The students love it, and the parents love seeing it on our school’s FaceBook Page.

So today when I stopped by to see if she needed another taping session, I was sad to find that she was a little down about the project. She had been so excited about this idea and how well it went, that she shared it with others – in hopes that they would find it as inspiring as she had. This is where she became disappointed. Unfortunately, some that she shared this with, immediately disregarded the idea saying that it would never work [for them].

And this is when I realized that those ‘new’ to technology in the classroom can be fragile. Fragile in the sense that this great new ‘thing’ that they are excited about and finding success with, which is then quickly disregarded by others, can easily break one’s spirit. She was truly disappointed that others had not wanted to try this. However, I quickly reminded her that 2 other teachers were inspired by her and had also taped their students.

It is stories like this, that encourage me to be the cheerleader for those who are willing to try. It is because of this teacher, who is now thinking of other ways to incorporate tech into her classroom, I will do what I can to support all those who dare to try something new. It’s not easy being the ‘Lone Nut’ [Jon Corippo & CUERockStar reference] in your grade level, on your campus, or in your district. But when a bunch of ‘Lone Nuts’ get together, amazing things begin to happen! And for this reason, I am looking forward to working with her with all the crazy ideas we can dream up!

Oh, and did I mention that she is a self proclaimed ‘non-techie’? Yeah, she’s THAT crazy – willing to dive into tech even when it’s outside her comfort zone. Mrs. Bolger, you inspire me!

Check out her kiddos:

Inspired

AdminLeave a comment

Today was a GREAT day! I began my day by videotaping a 1st grade classroom. They each wrote a word on their white boards, stood in a single file line, and showed their word. They did all this without saying the words. Why? A fun way for this teacher to help her students practice their high frequency words.

It began yesterday at lunch when another 1st grade teacher made the comment that her students practiced their words on the computer (using a game). That got me thinking about what the students can do to be producers instead of consumers. My initial idea wasn’t great. It involved making a Google Slide then using TechSmith’s Snagit Chrome Extension (you also need the App), have the students read and record the words. Well, it was the best I had at the time, and sent an email to the Kinder and 1st grade teachers. I offered to help (my schedule gives me a bit of time to help on Wednesdays).

I was so pleased that one of the 1st grade teachers like the idea and wanted to take me up on it. So after school we met up and began brainstorming. This is where we came up with the idea of taping the students.

So this morning I walked into the classroom and the students were ready to go! We ended up taking 2 different videos, and will do more next week. The idea was to switch around the words so a different student held the word ‘horse’. Another teacher was inspired and approached me today. She would like to do this in her Kinder room; only she will write out the words for the students so that they are legible.

The beauty of this is that the students can have fun practicing words. We posted this on our Facebook Page and School Website. This way, parents can access the videos at home and practice the words with their child.

The best part? The two teachers who want to do this, are self-proclaimed non-techies. Neither of them are too comfortable with using technology in the classroom. This was a great way to get the ball rolling for them! I’m so excited about this, and for the teachers and their students.

Make The World a Better Place

Admin1 Comment

This week’s writing prompt for #youredustory: Inspired by MLK: How will you make the world a better place? Suggestion by Nancy Minicozzi


creative commons licensed ( BY-SA ) flickr photo shared by dougbelshaw

As I sat and reflected upon this, I thought, “What DO I do to make this world a better place?” I then began thinking about the people who inspire ME to be a better person; which in turn makes the world a better place.

I began thinking of people who help others, quietly. I thought of my friend Bryan who stands in front of malls offering ‘Free Hugs’ near the holidays. He is a person that is there for his friends and will do what he can for others. He teaches me what true kindness, and generosity is.

Then there is Jen. Years ago I went to a conference with her. She witnessed a man digging through the hotel’s trash. We were on our way out when she made me stop the car. She jumped out of the car, ran over to the man and gave him some cash. I was raised NOT to do such things, so I asked her why she did it. She explained that a person must really be in a really bad place to have to resort to such actions. From that moment on, I have given to others. I learned empathy from Jen.

Finally, there are those that participate in the ‘Pay It Forward’ movement. I immediately thought of Liz and Lisa who have often done this. Who knows how many lunches, coffees, and drinks they have given to others anonymously. They most often have done this good deed in the drive through lane. I have learned generosity, giving, and selflessness from both of them.

So back to the question at hand, what will I do to make the world a better place? I will use the lessons that I learned from those mentioned, and many who were not. I will continue to show generosity, empathy, and kindness to others in the hopes that I can affect others the way my friends have affected me.